One of the most beloved literary classics of all time, Little Women, explores the life of four sisters: Josephine, Amy, Meg, and Beth March. Set during the Civil War, the book focuses mainly on the wild and rebellious Jo March, who always feels out of place and seems to always do the exact wrong thing. Generations of girls have fallen in love with the March family, and have shared in the sisters’ loves and heartbreaks. But what happens after Little Women (and after its sequels, Little Men and Jo’s Boys)? The Little Women Letters, by Gabrielle Donnelly explores one possible answer to this question.

What if the March sisters became nothing more than a family myth, with Grandma Jo as an eccentric, somewhat embarrassing ancestor? For Lulu, Emma, and Sophie Atwater, that is exactly the case. They don’t know much about Grandma Jo and her sisters, but when their mother asks Lulu to find a collection of old family recipes in the attic, Lulu ends up finding a treasure trove of letters written between the March sisters in the 1800s.

Steady Emma, who is about to be married, is the stable, levelheaded sister, and Sophie, an actor, is colorful and glamorous. But Lulu, with a college degree and no idea what she wants to do in life, moves from dead-end job to dead-end job and hasn’t had a boyfriend in forever. She feels like a failure, until she starts reading Grandma Jo’s letters and realizes she shares more than genetics with her ancestor; they also share a rebellious spirit and a need for more out of life.

Keeping the homey feel of Little Women, The Little Women Letters is told from the Atwater sisters’ viewpoint, as well as through letters between the March sisters. Events from the original book come to life again through the letters, and the adventures of the Atwater sisters mirror that of their ancestors as the girls struggle to find happiness and fulfillment, as well as staying true to themselves and their family.

(Galley provided by Touchstone)

Set in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, Phantom Evil by Heather Graham is a ghost story and murder mystery rolled into one. The city itself is detailed so realistically that it becomes practically a character in its own right, and glimpses into the city’s shadowy past give it an even darker side.

A newly-formed paranormal investigator team comes to New Orleans to look into the murder of the wife of a prominent senator. Though the team has never met before, they each have a psychic talent of their own, and they are all haunted by their pasts.

They are staying in the historic mansion that was the home of one of the city’s first serial killers, and the site of many of his grisly murders. The senator’s wife has been ruled a suicide, but the senator does not believe she jumped from the balcony to her death. That is what the team is there to discover: haunted by the death of her young son, did she jump? Or is something more mundane, and human, responsible for her death? With the team seeing ghosts and other threatening presences, and the murky associations of those closest to the senator, the answers are hidden beneath a veil of evil and lies that threatens the team itself as they race to uncover the truth.

Ms. Graham does a masterful job of bringing the city to life in all its glorious, Technicolor detail, but she does just as good a job creating characters that are both memorable and realistic. The characters are flawed, but likable, and their different personalities shine through on the page. Some of the scenes in Phantom Evil are eerie, bordering on scary, and the urge to figure out what is behind the mystery will have the reader turning pages far into the night—and jumping every time something goes bump in the night.

(Galley provided by Mira via NetGalley)

Biblical fiction is a difficult genre to write in. Many people are familiar enough with the Bible to be able to point out inconsistencies and inaccuracies, even in written works that are clearly mean to be fictionalized. Writing about well-known and beloved characters without alienating readers would be hard, but writing about a character about which almost nothing is known is probably even more difficult. Tessa Afshar does an amazing job at this with her new book, Pearl in the Sand, about Rahab, the harlot who helped bring down the walls of Jericho and ended up becoming the ancestor of Jesus.

At the age of fifteen, Rahab became a harlot. She did it to save her family, but that did not stop her shame and dislike of her life. She despises Canaan’s gods, and refuses to worship them. If they were truly gods, would they allow their people to starve and suffer? When she first hears of the fierce Israelite army and their awe-inspiring God, she doesn’t know what to think. Soon the city of Jericho is awash in tales of the destructive army, but these Canaanites are smug about the protection of Jericho’s famed walls. Rahab is merely intrigued with tales of the Israelite God. When two Israelite spies enter Jericho, Rahab is moved to hide them, and even helps them safely escape the city. In return, they offer her protection with their army takes the city, and she and her family are the only ones who survive the ensuing destruction.

Rahab and her family are allowed to join the Israelites, and she finds faith in God that gives her strength. She meets Salmone, one of the leaders of the tribes, and the two must fight to overcome their pride and distrust and follow the path God has laid before them.

Pearl in the Sand is beautifully written, and grounded in historical details and description that brings not only the doomed city of Jericho to life, but also the Israelites and their way of life. Rahab is mistrustful of men, scarred by her path, and she has many emotional barriers to overcome before she grows into the full strength of her character. Salmone is burdened with pride and judges Rahab for her past, and it is difficult for him to see past who she was. The characters truly live and breathe on these pages, and it is wonderful to read this vision of how one woman’s life helped change the course of history.

(Galley from Moody Publishers via NetGalley)

The recent trend in dystopian young adult books continues with Those that Wake by Jesse Karp. Set in a future New York City where technology consumes the lives and minds of everyone, the setting of this story is dark and foreboding, filled with shadowy, threatening authority figures and a populace that is so self-involved as to be almost paranoid.

Laura has a perfect life. She makes good grades in school. She has a bright future ahead of her. Then one day, her parents no longer know who she is, and no one at her school has any memory of her. Mal is a loner, a boxer with no family but his brother, Tommy. After one middle-of-the-night phone call, Tommy disappears, and soon no one remembers Mal, either. When Mal and Laura meet, they discover that they have both had strange dreams, and everything around them seems to be breaking down. The two must struggle to figure out what is happening to their society, and to try to reclaim their lives.

Those That Wake is not a book that is overwhelmed with backstory and setting details. On the contrary, details are few and far between for both the reader and the characters, which can be a bit confusing. The book is well-written and the characters are engaging, but this lack of detail detracts from the quality of the writing and the story.

Happy Mardi Gras! To celebrate, you could attend one of the local Mardi Gras celebrations, like Fat Tuesday at the Mansion, or you could visit All Saints’ Episcopal Church tonight for their annual Mardi Gras feast. If neither of these is your style, you could try reading something set in the city that’s known for Mardi Gras: New Orleans!

Set mostly in New Orleans, Green-Eyed Demon by Jaye Wells, brings this richly-detailed world to vibrant life. The sometimes over-the-top characters are larger-than-life, and twice as fascinating. Even the most far-fetched details of the story seem realistic, and the action is nonstop and full of unexpected twists that will have the reader up late reading “Just one more chapter!”

Sabina Kane is a mixed-blood, half-vampire and half-mage. She’s also an assassin, and her temper and smart mouth frequently land her in a heap of trouble. This time, her evil vampire grandmother, Lavinia, had kidnapped her newly-discovered twin sister, Maisie, and Sabina is determined to rescue her sister—and eliminate Lavinia for good.

Along with steamy mage Adam Lazarus, and her demon familiar, Giguhl, Sabina heads of to New Orleans in search of Maisie. An uneasy alliance with the Fey Queen and weakened mages supports Sabina’s efforts, but they’re more concerned with killing Lavinia than rescuing Maisie. With the help of a voodoo priestess, a drag-queen changeling, and the lead singer of a rock band, Sabina races to find her sister before Lavinia can murder her, and in the process summon an ancient evil.

Jaye Wells is an author with local ties, since she lives in Texas, and has been known to frequent the Dallas/Fort Worth area doing book signings and even appearing at ConDFW. Her Sabina Kane urban fantasy series blends vampires, demons, and fey with arcane magic, snarky humor, and tons of action. The latest book in the series, Green-Eyed Demon, is no exception.

Native Texan writer Linda Francis Lee now lives in New York City, but she has set several of her books in Texas, including The Devil in the Junior League. Her newest book, Emily and Einstein is set in New York City, but the main character, Emily has a down-to-earth, Texan vibe.

Emily is blissfully happy in her life as an up-and-coming book editor. She is madly in love with her new husband, Sandy, and busy remodeling their apartment in the fabulous Dakota building. Then Sandy is killed in a tragic accident, and Emily discovers her life was not as happy as she thought it was. Sandy was hiding many things from her, not the least of which was the sham of his lies and broken promises, and now Emily is in danger of losing everything.

While Emily deals with the hurt from Sandy’s death and his betrayal, she is on the verge of losing herself. Then she meets Einstein, a scruffy stray dog who charms his way into her heart and her life. Emily may not feel like saving herself, but Einstein is determined to make sure she does. With the help of the oddly charming Einstein, Emily starts the difficult journey to deal with the ghosts in her past—and to make her future all she’s ever dreamed of.

Emily and Einstein is a magical, heart-warming book. Ms. Lee brings New York City to life in a way that has nothing to do with the hustle-and-bustle of the city, but with its colorful, larger-than-life inhabitants and quaint settings. The book alternates Emily’s heart-wrenching thoughts and feelings, with the more pragmatic Einstein’s. This story of redemption and love is well worth the read.

Dystopian fiction is one of the fastest-growing genres out there. With the wildly successful series The Hunger Games being made into a movie, and even a movie version of Stephen King’s The Stand in the works, the genre is sure to gain even more popularity and many more readers as well. Aftertime, by Sophie Littlefield is dystopian fiction, mixed with a little bit of horror, along with a touch of sci-fi and some romance as well.

Cass Dollar wakes up sometime after the end of the world, with no memory of how she got where she is. She remembers being attacked by Beaters, the zombie-like creatures that plague the dying California countryside, but she has no idea how she survived. No one ever has, not once the Beaters carry them away.

But Cass survived, and now she has only one goal: to find her daughter, Ruthie. With the aid of Smoke, a stranger intent on helping her, she sets off to find Ruthie. They have to travel miles through Beater territory, and escape the clutches of the Rebuilders as well, power-hungry, controllers who want to build a society, and one where they run things, but for Cass, anything is worth it, as long as she can have Ruthie back.

Sophie Littlefield paints an evocative picture of this post-apocalyptic society, the result of bioterrorism attacks and botched genetic engineering. Despite the horrific descriptions of the Beaters and their flesh-eating ways, the story is focused on Cass’s journey, not just to find Ruthie, but to finally find self-acceptance after years of addiction. While Cass is a troubled character, the author brings her to life so well that the reader understands why she’s done the things she has—and feels her horror and grief over her past, as well as her overwhelming love for her daughter.

Don’t you just love it when a book you’re reading is set locally? The Dallas/Fort Worth area isn’t often used as a setting for books, so it’s always a thrill to come across one that is. This Side of the Grave, by Jeanine Frost

, has several different settings, but the finale of the book takes place in nearby Garland, Texas. This Side of the Grave is the fifth book in the Night Huntress series, and takes place in a world where vampires, zombies, ghosts, and demons are commonplace.

Cat is half-vampire, and her husband, Bones, is a powerful Master vampire. They’ve spent most of their relationship fighting for their lives, and just once, they’d like a break. But vampires are disappearing, and there are rumors of trouble looming with the ghouls.

With Cat’s new and unusual powers at the center of the firestorm, Cat and Bones travel to New Orleans to seek help from legendary voodoo priestess and ghoul queen Marie Laveau to stop the coming war. But Marie has an agenda of her own, and Cat is dragged even deeper into trouble. If she cannot control her new powers, she’ll never be able to stop the battle between zombies and ghouls.

This Side of the Grave is well written and fast-paced, with lots of action and a detailed, believable world. Cat is capable, with an inner core of strength that often gets her in trouble, and she doesn’t hesitate to act. Bones is ruthless when he needs to be, and at times overprotective, yet he knows Cat can take care of herself. He’s also British, with an accent that practically melts the pages (not to mention one of the best anti-Twilight lines ever). All of the books in the Night Huntress world are captivating, and This Side of the Grave is no exception.

Some days, don’t you wonder if you’re going crazy? You know the kind of day: you get up, go about your routine, but things just aren’t quite right. Polly Mayer is having one of those days. Her coffee starts disappearing. Someone else has been kind enough to do her work. She goes to the dry cleaners to pick up her dress only to discover the shop has vanished. She asks her brother, Don, for help, and soon the weirdness envelops Don, too. He can’t find the dry cleaners, either. He makes his neighbor disappear. Soon he’s even doing, gasp, magic.

When the pair starts investigating, they discover even more odd goings-on. The development firm Polly works for seems to have a teeny problem: all the housing developments it’s been building for years have suddenly vanished. Then there are the chickens that aren’t chickens. And the two knights forced to battle each other ten times a day for the last 600 years. Not to mention the mysterious Mr. Huos, Polly’s boss, who’s missing his magical brass ring.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages is British novelist Tom Holt’s hilarious look at pigs and parallel worlds. Full of dry British humor that is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, the book, while at times a bit overwhelming, does an excellent job of drawing the reader into this a-bit-out-of-the-ordinary world, or at least one tiny corner of it. The sibling sparring between Polly and Don is so true-to-life the reader feels like part of the family. While some of the “explanations” for what’s actually going on read as quite technical, the book is an enjoyable, fast-paced read that answers the ages-old question: which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Environmental issues are a hot news topic these days, including global warming, preserving state parks, clean energy, and improving recycling programs. There are many ways to get involved in environmental programs at a state or local level. There are a lot of books with an environmental slant hitting the shelves, including novels that give a slightly different view of these issues. One of these is Trickster’s Girl, by Hilari Bell.

Trickster’s Girl is set in the future, in a strictly regulated society. Global warming is no longer up for debate: it’s a fact of life. The ice caps have melted. A tree plague deployed by terrorists has wiped out most of the tropical rain forests and is spreading across the world. Humans have proven themselves to be poor stewards of the planet.

Kelsa, still trying to recover from her father’s death, is more focused on the growing tension between her and her mother than any of these issues. But then she meets a shape-shifter who claims to be Raven, the trickster spirit out of Native American Legend. Raven needs Kelsa’s help to fix the planet by healing the leys, lines of power responsible for the health of the land. Raven can’t heal the damage himself; since humans caused the problem in the first place, they have to fix it. So Kelsa reluctantly agrees, and they set out on a journey that will lead them all the way to Alaska. But Raven didn’t mention he had enemies, enemies that would stop at nothing to prevent Kelsa from completing her task, and soon they’re on the run from a biker gang and other spirits who want humankind gone forever. If Kelsa can’t heal the leys, those spirits just might get their wish.

While Trickster’s Girl is fiction, it touches on some important issues, and it’s not preachy about it, either. The damage humans have done to the environment is the motivating factor in the book, but there’s a message of hope, as well as strong themes on the importance of doing what’s right, friendship, and family.